VJ Day
Celebration of V-J Day in Times Square
New York City, 1945/ ©LIFE
In August of 1945, photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt of New York famously captured in his lens an anonymous sailor passionately kissing a surprised nurse during a large street parade. In cities all over the country, similar scenes were playing out in front of other cameras as Harry Truman had just announced the surrender of Japan and the official end of the long and devastating Second World War. In St. Louis, as this photograph depicts, gleeful women and men threw ticker tape, balanced atop cars, and cheered in unison.
Despite the tremendous loss of so much life and property, Americans largely drew comfort from this celebratory and optimistic vision. Parades, parties, and the well-known “V for Victory” hand sign, became icons of liberation symbolically marking the end of a frightening era.
V.J. Day Street Parade, St. Louis
MHS Collections
Organized by the Virginia Historical
Society with additional support from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Foundation and the
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Changing Exhibitions Fund, American. Support
in St. Louis is provided by The Stanley and Lucy Lopata Foundation
This exhibition has been made possible in part
by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Great Ideas Brought to Life.
